Mobile app for ASUS routers

[wirelessEngineer]

I am a newbie in this forum as I purchased a new router recently

I have been using this Cloudcheck app to measure wifi and broadband speed in my house (I have ASUS RT-N66U and Comcast WiFi). Yesterday, this app was updated to a new version, and I saw a new optimization service added to the app. This new optimization service (smartifi?) doesn't work for the Comcast WiFi, but it works for ASUS routers. (When I tried to run it for the Comcast router, the app says that the router is not compatible.)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cloudcheck/id722428563?mt=8

I still need to see how it goes, but it seems interesting to me because it shows the list of devices in the network along with speed and advice. I am not sure how this works, but I was wondering whether you have any similar experiences with this app for ASUS routers.

 

[oric1]

I am a newbie in this forum as I purchased a new router recently

I have been using this Cloudcheck app to measure wifi and broadband speed in my house (I have ASUS RT-AC66U and Comcast WiFi). Yesterday, this app was updated to a new version, and I saw a new optimization service added to the app. This new optimization service (smartifi?) doesn't work for the Comcast WiFi, but it works for ASUS routers. (When I tried to run it for the Comcast router, the app says that the router is not compatible.)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cloudcheck/id722428563?mt=8

I still need to see how it goes, but it seems interesting to me because it shows the list of devices in the network along with speed and advice. I am not sure how this works, but I was wondering whether you have any similar experiences with this app for ASUS routers.

I'm just curious why did you download this app to test your speed that's not compatible with certain router when you can get speedtest.net that doesn't check for type of routers before doing the speed test?

https://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/speedtest.net-mobile-speed/id300704847?mt=8

 

[watusi]

I'm just curious why did you download this app to test your speed that's not compatible with certain router when you can get speedtest.net that doesn't check for type of routers before doing the speed test?

One presumes that it's because it does quite a bit more than a simple Internet speed check - which in itself tells you NOTHING about your WiFi other than giving you a floor on throughput.

To actually test WiFi throughput, you need some sort of locally-installed server. iPerf and iPerf2 are common (and simple) test servers that can be installed locally, but... there are precious few mobile apps available that can use these, and most of those are over-priced. (I don't quite understand why. This doesn't appear to be rocket science...)

I appreciate the pointer - I'm curious about the "WiFi sweet spot" functionality.

I use WiFi Scanner on a MacBook, but this doesn't break it down the way this app does, which seems quite useful. With WiFi scanner you have to walk around looking at signal readings.

 

[watusi]

I notice they have a separate "WiFi Sweet Spots" app as well.

 

[watusi]

FYI, these are the routers supported for Smartifi:

RT-N66U
RT-AC66U
RT-N66W
RT-N66R
RT-AC66R

 

[watusi]

It apparently does some sort of local throughput test for Wifi Sweetspots, because I get numbers of 500mbit/sec and up in some spots. I have no idea how it does this test, though.

 

[watusi]

There is a small FAQ. It doesn't say much:

We measure the throughput between the wireless router/ap and the smartphone. Different smartphones, and mobile operating systems are likely to perform at different levels.

Is there some throughout-measurement capability built-in to all WiFi routers? Any idea how they are doing this?

 

[wirelessEngineer]

I initially downloaded the sweetspot app after reading this article, and downloaded cloudcheck app that includes the sweetspot function.

http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-speed-test-your-local-wifi-router-performance-from-a-phone/

This app works for every router, and it breaks down the speed of wifi and broadband. When I have slow internet, I want to know whether it is comcast problem, or wifi problem, and this app provides a breakdown. I think that's the main difference as watusi explained above.

With this new upgrade, it seems that smartifi function only works for ASUS routers. I only used for one day, but it looks quite interesting to me. I will probably ask the developers to know more about it. I copied the screen shot from the app store, and it shows a similar network view for my home network.

 

[wirelessEngineer]

There is a small FAQ. It doesn't say much:

Is there some throughout-measurement capability built-in to all WiFi routers? Any idea how they are doing this?

I couldn't get the details from the developers, but they mentioned that wifi sweet spots measures wifi speed between the mobile device and router without using any capability of wifi routers. New v2.0 app for ASUS routers can measure wifi speed between the router and all the wifi stations connected to the router without adding additional software in the wifi stations.

I have been using iOS app only, but they also have an Android app.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.assia.cloudcheck&hl=en

 

[wirelessEngineer]

Here is my impression after using the app after two weeks. I also attached some screenshots after removing personal info

- It gives a list of stations along with current throughput and last week's throughput. This helps me understand when there is a problem with some stations in my house.
- When there are some issues, it provides advice related to the AP or my devices.
- Good to see the Broadband speed along with wifi speed. I could see that my broadband fluctuates time to time.
- There are several actions (block device, re-establish link, or prioritize device). I found that re-establish link was useful when I want to reconnect other wifi stations.
- I am still trying to understand how smartifi+ helps. I feel that my wifi is better than before, but I think I need more time to see.

 

[keenism]

I checked this app out after seeing this thread; it is very helpful in finding weak spots... unfortunately the speed seems to be off, around 300mbps compared to around 400-430mbps from iperf readings. Suppose it still serves its purpose...would like to know how they measure the speed though.

edit: Quick Iperf reading around 30ft from the router.

[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 7] 0.0-40.0 sec 1.94 GBytes 416 Mbits/sec

 

[watusi]

It surprises me how few apps are in the iOS App Store (haven't checked Android) that implement an iPerf client, and those that do are ridiculously expensive.

It's not rocket science.

Should I write an app for that? Could I get 0.99 for it?

(The One freebie that I found was the he.net app. But, AFAIK, only the iperf2 client actually works...)

 

[stevech]

when I run speedtest.net from a fast computer wired to my ASUS router, I have seen TimeWarner having routing problems on rare occasions. It's usually not Time Warner, but rather a Level 3 backbone 4+ hops down the line. You can see that with an hours-long run on pingplotter (freeware).

I pay attention to the pingplots from me to the first router in Time Warner. This tells me how well the cable modem head end is working. After that, Level 3 falters a lot and not much can be done about that. They "own" the big pipes.

Also watch the cable modem's received and transmitted signal levels. If they are irregular or sometimes so (weather related at times), you have a clue. On many modems you can use 192.168.100.1 to see signal levels. Downstream at 0dBmv +/- 6 dB. Upstream (lower is better) at -45dBmV +/- 10 is nominal.

As to wifi performance issues... there are so many causes, including hoggy neighbors' WiFi if it's within 3 channels of your chosen 2.4GHz channel. Hoggy only if there's super heavy streaming going on via WiFi.

Again, it's not the number of SSIDs detected, nor their signal strength. It's how BUSY that SSID is. And few tools tell you that.

 

[watusi]

0 dbM is a perfect level.

+-6db means your cable needs to be replaced, or at least they need to do the usual replacement of connectors, assuming there is enough cable left to do that.

 

[watusi]

Oh, did you mean +- 6dBm over various channels?

Higher channels will get lower levels. If the one with the median frequencies is near 0dBm, that is perfect.

 

[wirelessEngineer]

I checked this app out after seeing this thread; it is very helpful in finding weak spots... unfortunately the speed seems to be off, around 300mbps compared to around 400-430mbps from iperf readings. Suppose it still serves its purpose...would like to know how they measure the speed though.

edit: Quick Iperf reading around 30ft from the router.

[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 7] 0.0-40.0 sec 1.94 GBytes 416 Mbits/sec

I also compared the number from the app with the number from Iperf, and the number from the app matches well. However, I only tested a lower wifi speed, so that might be the reason (below 100Mbps). I will also try more if I get a device with higher wifi speeds. As you mentioned, it still serves its purpose as I can figure out weak spots, or low throughputs of certain stations.

 

[jdebeer]

Does not want to work with an RT-AC87R.

Slick otherwise.

JDB

 

[Fandroid]

Is it safe to give the router "keys" to this program? What kind of changes does it do to router configuration?

 

[wirelessEngineer]

Is it safe to give the router "keys" to this program? What kind of changes does it do to router configuration?

I have never changed my default login/password of my router, so I felt safe to give the default admin password. I also read the "about" page of the app, and it seems that the company is well-known in the broadband industry. I actually knew the founder of this company through academic papers because he was very famous in wireless and wired communications, and I referred to his paper in my thesis.

I don't know exactly what changes were made by this program though.

 

[L&LD]

I don't understand people trying programs that have full access to their networks?

How do you know what else they've accessed? Or what Trojan has been installed?